


Fallen Star

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-28 04:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12598136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Aideen sets foot on Jorvik for the last time. Inspired by the Clouds Over Silverglade comic.





	Fallen Star

Aideen had expected this battle to be a bleak one. She’d seen it, back when the darkness had first fallen from the heavens and sunk into the ocean to spread its foul ink everywhere. She’d seen how the darkness had stuck to some people, making them cruel, and to animals, making them mad. Some of the luckier affected animals were found and put out of their misery by farmers. Others were…

Aideen did not like to think about what had happened to the poor, lost wretches. If they were not captured by the agents of darkness, they were lost forever. Aideen could not reach them to heal them. Seeing her beautiful horses, the Star Breeds that had formed from the sparks of her first descent onto the desolate mass of Jorvik, twisted into hell horses tore at her heart. She wept, and more stars fell, but none could reach those that were lost.

When the darkness emerged from the sea and began to crawl onto land, Aideen threw herself ever harder against the golden chains that held her tethered to the heavens. It was not safe for her to walk on Jorvik, she knew that. Her physical form had once been strong, able to carve mountains and valleys with little but gentle caresses of her hands. Her form had shrunk as she’d travelled across Jorvik, the land she called a name unable to be pronounced by humans, and it was in the smaller form that she had first met the Jarl.

It was for the Jarl that Aideen now fought. Her four guardians, those that had been the first and largest sparks to fall, fought valiantly on the battlefield. Their riders, four young women just on the cusp of adulthood, fought with powers gifted to them by Aideen herself, so long ago. The star, to bring healing light and songs of magic. The moon, to see past the illusions wrought by the agents of darkness, and to impart knowledge of the past and future onto her comrades. The sun, to travel between dimensions and see the space between them as easily as she could jump a ravine on her winged horse. And, of course, lightning, to be brute force.

And yet, for all their powers, her guardians were losing. Aideen threw herself against her bonds, straining to break free.

“I would not advise that,” said Fripp, suddenly in front of her. He appeared to be floating in the sky, just as Aideen did. Her mountain was invisible, as was her form, which was as large as half of the mountain itself.

“Fripp, please,” said Aideen, and her tears fell as rain onto the grateful country below.

“Aideen, you know the risks,” said Fripp. Aideen struggled again, hair like flame whipping behind her in an ethereal breeze. She glared at her fellow cosmic being.

“If I stay here, I will watch my guardians perish and Jorvik with them,” said Aideen. “I know this, Fripp.” For she had foreseen it, in a vision that the druids said was granted by her moon powers. Aideen had no such labels for her powers, she had them all and did not need to compartmentalise them. She had only named the ones given to the riders who would ride her guardians. “Please.”

“I am not your jailor, Aideen,” said Fripp. “I am only your guide. You do not need to listen to me.”

“I named you the keeper for a reason,” said Aideen, shaking the chains behind her that bound her wrists to the mountain. “You have the key. Free me.”

“And you are sure that it is the only way?” asked Fripp.

“Yes,” said Aideen, giving him a nod. “I am positive. And I understand the risks.”

Aideen felt only the lightest pressure on her wrists, and then, the shackles binding them to the mountains were gone. Those binding her ankles and neck soon followed, until Aideen stood at her full height on the mountain top, from which she could see everything. From here, she could see that the battle was almost lost.

“Goodbye, Aideen,” said Fripp, looking at her solemnly with his big eyes. Aideen would have hugged her friend, had she been small enough, but instead, she could only caress his head with one large finger. And then, she stepped off the mountain, and took her human form.

Gravity crashed down on Aideen immediately, and she staggered, unused to the weight in the air and the physical presence of a human body. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, almost choking on the darkness that filled the very air itself. All she could see was darkness, even after she opened her eyes.

There had been a foal of purest white born in the stables somewhere on the mainland, and it was to here that Aideen headed first. The stable girl looked alarmed at the sight of a pale, red-haired woman dressed in robes befitting a goddess, but gave her the foal and looked on in amazement as it grew into a fully-grown stallion before her eyes. Mutely, the stable girl accepted the gold pieces that Aideen gave her, and then, Aideen rode off, her steed managing to cross great kilometres with every stride. Just as they had done in the old days.

The guardians were almost spent. A beautiful grey Pegasus lay panting on the ground, bleeding from numerous wounds, while his rider lay atop him. Aideen could sense no life here, not in the omnipresent darkness. Using the last of her strength, Aideen formed a light in her hand and held it up.

“For my people!” Aideen bellowed at the top of her lungs, her voice ringing out clearly in the darkness. “For my guardians! For Pandoria! For Jorvik!” With each declaration, light shot out from that which she grasped in her hand, piercing the darkness, which recoiled, hissing. Aideen grit her teeth, very much aware that her magic was fast being depleted. She could no longer feel the horse beneath her, nor could she feel her toes. But she could feel the light, that burning, pure energy, which revitalised her guardians and their riders. The sun horse got to his hooves, spreadings wings that were once more lustrous, and his rider awoke and climbed into his saddle, sitting upright and directing her icy blue gaze towards her attackers.

The other three, renewed by the light, rejoined the battle, and Aideen barely noticed when the flashes of magic, specifically the Soul Strike wielded by her strongest warrior, became brighter than the light which surrounded her.

By the time her guardians and their riders noticed, though, the battle was won.

“Aideen!” the moon rider cried, dismounting and running over to where the fading goddess sat on her horse. It was not just fading in the metaphorical sense, either, the far cliffs could be seen through Aideen’s form.

“It is alright, my child,” said Aideen, reaching down to brush hair away from the moon rider’s forehead. Her fingers disappeared into the young woman’s skull, turning a few strands of hair as white as snow. Aideen quickly drew her hand back. “Oh no.”

“What is happening?” asked her warrior, looking up at her from astride her golden pony. “Perhaps Lisa could heal you.”

“I am afraid not, young one,” said Aideen, giving them a sad smile as the other two joined her. “I knew that joining this battle would be too much for me. But we won.”

“It was truly a noble sacrifice,” said the sun rider, bowing from her saddle. The other three followed suit, and Aideen smiled with tears in her eyes at their reverence of her. The druids truly had taught them well.

“Thank you, Aideen, for driving the darkness from this island once more,” said the moon rider, looking teary-eyed at the goddess. Aideen chuckled.

“Oh, all I did was give you a boost,” said Aideen. “You four did all of the work.”

“Yet you brought us back when we were lost,” said the sun rider. “Even at great cost to yourself.” Aideen looked down, and found that her torso was almost gone.

“I could not watch my land die,” said Aideen. Her voice was becoming fainter, and she could feel herself becoming part of the breeze. Departing this physical form, for the last time. “I had to help, in any way I could.”

“But what if Jorvik should be in need of your help again?” asked the moon rider.

“It has you, and my four guardians,” said Aideen. “Fripp and the druids will also aid you in your fight.”

“Thank you so much for coming to us in our time of need,” said the warrior. “All of Jorvik is eternally grateful to you.”

“I know,” said Aideen. “And I will miss being among you. But my time now is done. I must leave. Perhaps, someday, I may return, but it will be a long time from now. If Jorvik is ever in great need, a girl will return.”

But that would be a very long time from now. There was no great fanfare when Aideen disappeared. She just stopped being able to see and hear. Her horse remained, though, where she knew her riders would take him home and care for him. Perhaps he would someday be in the lineage of the horse for a very special girl. The fifth.

And so Aideen faded into the ages, her job here done for now. But Jorvik was safe, and that was the important part.


End file.
